A wide variety of computer systems and computer programs use pull-down menus. An example of a pull down menu, from the MacDraw II.1 program published by Claris, is shown in simplified form in FIG. 1. The "File" pull-down menu 50 has been activated by pointing to the File menu item "button" 52 in the top menu bar 54, and then selecting that item (typically using a mouse pointer device). In this particular program, the pull-down menu is automatically removed when the user releases the button on the mouse pointer device. As shown, while the menu is active, ft blocks a portion of the displayed image. More specifically, the pull-down menu is displayed inside an opaque "box" or window that blocks all other images in the portion of the display that is occupied by the pull-down menu.
Typically, pull-down menus are implemented as an object or window that, when activated, blocks out whatever other images happen to fall below the activated menu. Thus, if the pull down menu is a rectangular object containing a list of options, all images falling below the menu's rectangular object are blocked. This is entirely standard, and is so widely accepted that k is normally not perceived as being a problem.
Some applications provide moveable control menus, sometimes called tear-off menus. These menus can be positioned by the computer user anywhere on the monitor display. Unfortunately, prior art tear-off menus, like prior art pull-down menus, block any image failing below the current position of the displayed menu. As a resoft, the computer user must use the mouse (or other means) to move the tear-off menu to a region of the display that is not too close to the underlying image. This menu repositioning takes time and effort, and briefly diverts the user's attention from the more important task of actually using the menu, or working with the underlying image.
Another type of prior art is the popup menu. When the user clicks a mouse button on a certain area of a drawing, an opaque menu appears under the mouse pointer.
There is a need for a control menu that does not block other images on a computer monitor. Such a menu could be positioned anywhere on the display, permitting a user to activate the menu without first having to move a cursor to the periphery of the display. Further, since such a menu would not require dedicated space at the periphery of the display, application programs could display larger underlying images that filled the entire display.